Hot food served to children at home and in restaurants is often so hot that it burns their mouths or lips. Young children usually are unable to cool hot foods themselves. Accordingly there is a need for a portable cooling device that may be used anywhere, for cooling hot foods without contaminating or noticeably dehydrating them. Both children and handicapped or elderly adults may benefit from having access to such portable device at meal time.
Various containers for cooling and heating food and beverages are known in the prior art. Some prior art patents disclosing food coolers are Bullard U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,932; Carmi U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,479; Oliphant U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,281; Freeman U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,094; Cheng U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,933; and Clark U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,665. Devices shown in these prior art patents are larger and more expensive than the portable food cooler of the present invention. Accordingly there still remains a need for a food cooling device that is simple enough to be used by both children as well as handicapped adults, inexpensive, portable, and durable.